"You can call me Abe, or whatever other name you want, but everyone around here calls me Old Man. As you can see, I'm the oldest gladiator here."
An elderly man dressed in a silver robe sits outside Thor's cell. He is from Sakar, with skin entirely red, but with age, his body has become extremely shriveled, as if he's from a different race.
"You're the newcomer that the prince has taken notice of, which is why I'm here to talk to you about the rules of the Sakaar's gladiator battles..." The old man named Abe cradles a long spear in his arms. Despite his old age, his words are mostly clear, trembling slightly as he speaks as if lacking the energy.
Thor, tethered to the cell wall, rolls his somewhat cloudy eyes towards the old man and asks in a hoarse voice, "They've captured another Asgardian... who is he?"
Abe shakes his head and continues in his own world, "On the day you enter the arena, you must dress appropriately, wear the designated armor, put on a helmet and prepare your weapons. This is your weapon. Do you need me to introduce it to you?"
Abe shows the long spear he's holding to Thor. As Thor's eyes land on it, he reveals a somewhat mocking look, his facial muscles a bit rigid from not having expressed emotions in a long time.
Thor's cheeks have completely sunken in, his eyes deeply recessed in their sockets. He no longer resembles the brave and valiant Prince of Asgard, looking more like a prisoner who has been confined for many years.
However, after his eyes regain a bit of their former luster, a sharper aura emanates from him. This makes his every expression striking. As Abe observes his expression, he says, "I've only heard of the Aesir from others, I heard that you're naturally powerful. You'd better bring out your true abilities, perhaps the Prince might spare your life."
"That person is your prince?" Thor asks. "What is his name?"
Mention of Prince Asya makes Abe shiver. He then says, "How dare I mention his respected name? He is the most revered prince of Sakaar, the Emperor's favourite son, the future master of Sakaar..."
"...Why…*cough cough*...do you guys respect him so much?"
"Because he's the most respected Prince of Sakaar..."
Abe just keeps repeating the same thing, as if reciting an essay. After a while, he steadily stands up, throws the spear in front of Thor's cell, and says, "In a while, the Prince will let you out to duel with his brave gladiators. You must remember to dress properly, put on your armor and pick up your weapons..."
As he speaks, he limps away. Not too long after, Sakar guards enter the dungeon, open Thor's cell, unlock the shackles on his wrists and lead him outside the dungeon.
After leaving the dungeon, they reach a training ground of modest size. Prince Asya stands in the center of the ground, watching two robust aliens fighting before him.
Seeing Thor approach, Asya smiles cheerfully. In high spirits, he waves his hand, gesturing for his subordinates to unleash Thor. Yet, they do not remove his handcuffs or shackles. Instead, they make him stand in place. Turning to Thor, Prince Asya asks, "What do you think of them? How do they compare to the Asgardian warriors?"
Thor does not respond. Frail and haggard, his face is devoid of emotion. This seems to upset Prince Asya, who says, "Aesir, you'd better drop your pride. You're just rubbish cast aside by your own people. You're no different from them. Now you're all my slaves!"
"You said you captured another Asgardian. Who is he?" Thor's eyes are fixed on Prince Asya, giving off a razor-sharp edge. This is an aura never before seen on Thor.
Thor of the past, like most Asgardians, exuded a resolute and heroic aura. But now, he has been sharpened into a single edge, from a blunt instrument to a long spear.
Seeing Thor's gaze, Prince Asya's first reaction is to defensively take a step back. But he soon collects himself and, realizing his previous action, angrily orders a guard to lash at Thor.
The guard forces Thor to kneel by pressing down on his shoulder. From his higher position, Prince Asya stares down at Thor, saying with contempt, "Don't look at me with that eye, damnable scum! I am the heir to the throne of Sakaar, the noblest prince!"
Thor averts his gaze, lowering his head. Prince Asya thinks he's frightened, and just as her was about to gloat, he hears Thor's hoarse voice, "I finally understand how ridiculous everything I did before was."
"Just like you right now. Maybe the initial me was just an ignorant native, causing havoc in an ant hill in sight of some higher existence."
Prince Asya doesn't understand what Thor means, but that doesn't stop him from recognizing the mockery in Thor's tone. He walks up, kicks Thor to the ground, and says, "You think you're superior? Aesir? This is Sakaar, not a place where you can run amok!"
"If you were so capable, you wouldn't be in such a miserable state, would you? You'd better behave. Don't disgrace me in the upcoming duels, otherwise..."
He turns to look at the two fighting aliens. One has already been defeated, pinned to the ground and being beaten by the other. Prince Asya waves his hand with a stern face, signalling his men to separate them, and drags the defeated one over.
The defeated alien, with a purple skin tone and four hands, is known to Thor as an inhabitant from the Big Horn Galaxy. Prince Asya takes a spear from a subordinate, orders them to hold down the robust creature from the Big Horn Galaxy.
The Big Horn alien reveals a look of fear and despair. As Prince Asya raises his spear, resentment fills the alien's face. He yells in his native language, "You despicable scum! The Flames will burn you to ashes! …Ah!!!"
The spear pierces his body, and the spattering blood lands on Thor's face. Still expressionless, Thor lowers his head, his golden hair hanging over his shoulders. The sharp aura he emanates is increasingly intense and piercing to those even a few steps away.
Prince Asya raises the bloody spear high. All his subordinates crazily shout praises for him, calling him the most revered heir of Sakaar. Meanwhile, Thor kneels to the side, silently saying nothing.
"Look at yourself, Aesir, discarded trash of your race, you could never command the respect and adoration I do!"
"So what if you're an Aesir? You're just a foot soldier who rushes to bleed, and in the end, they tossed you onto the scrapheap…"
Prince Asya seemed to derive pleasure from using Thor to puff up his ego, which wasn't strange given the acclaimed reputation of the Aesir in the cosmos.
Many interstellar civilizations, before stepping into the interstellar community, developed their cultures to the peak on their home planets and liked to call themselves Gods. However, such self-proclaimed gods aren't recognized by other civilizations in the universe.
And most of them, once they join interstellar civilization, realize their past arrogance and see that they are no different from other cultures.
Yet the Aesir are universally recognized as a god-race in the cosmos because they have all the qualities that most civilizations imagine a god-race would.
Born strong, with sturdy bodies and handsome looks, they live long lives and grow stronger with age.
They are united and brilliant in battle, masterfully mixing technology with magic, possessing a distinct aesthetic sense and creative art of their civilization. They seem to have been favored by the creator and appeared to have no shortcoming.
To trample such a race underfoot made Prince Asya feel that he made history for the people of Sakaar. No one had ever captured an Aesir as their slave. He was indeed a chosen heir favored by the heavens.
However, the increasingly obvious aura emanating from Thor gave him a sense of unease. To hide his insecurity, he stepped forward and said, "You prided yourselves as the most formidable warriors in the cosmos. Well then, defeat him, defeat my most robust gladiator, and prove yourselves..."
With a wave of his hand, Thor was made to approach the victor by his servants pulling on his neck chain.
The victorious one wasn't a Sakarian, but an even stronger massive being with a long, slender head and humongous flesh-mountain body. Seeing Thor approach it, the flesh mountain roared and lunged at him.
In shackles and a heavy chain around his neck, Thor was unable to dodge and was pinned down by the flesh monster. A large mouth on its body bit down hard on Thor's shoulder. Thor raised his head, let out a painful cry, and punched the flesh monster's eye with all his strength, causing it to cry out in pain and released its bite.
Thor, half kneeling and panting hard, was wasting away. His original muscular body was nearly gone due to the lack of nutrients and severe injury. His skeletal frame was clearly visible under his skin, making him look as dry as a piece of firewood, lacking the glow that characterized an Aesir.
He clumsily dodged the attacks, but to no avail. He was quickly covered in wounds.
Prince Asya roared with laughter, like a victor reveling in triumph. Thor's lips trembled, not out of humiliation of defeat, but because another emotion was welling up within him.
How many countless days and nights has he stood just like the stupid creature in front of him, laughing at the enemies who lay at his feet, relishing his success as if he was in control of everything?
Just like Prince Asya, he used to order his subordinates to hold down the failed enemy while he delivered the killing blow; watching them scream in agony, bleed heavily, and then die. The violent pleasure that rushed out from within him turned his eyes bright red.
Amidst his agony, layers upon layers of phantom images appeared before Thor's eyes again. He saw that everyone around him was just like him, their eyes glowing bright red, filled with bloodthirst and violence.
Behind each person, a blood-red whirlpool emerged, out of which the shadowy figure of a monster crawled onto their back. It whispered to them, urging them to kill, conquer and destroy, claiming that they were the most potent race in the universe and were born to be like this.
Prince Asya watched as Thor suddenly stood up. A sharp intent surrounded him, his eyes glowing red and his face twisted, as if he was wrestling with an unseen force.
In that moment, this sharp intent began to rise, seeping into the depth of the cosmos until it touched the cosmic barrier.
Lost in a daze, Thor beheld the truth of past history. The Aesir trampled enemy corpses beneath them, hands dripping with blood, fires consumed bodies, songs filled the air glorifying mindless slaughter and endless destruction. This fantastic masquerade was followed by wild dance and celebration.
More and more bodies, more and more blood, more and more power, then ...
A blaze burst out from the heart of the World Tree, burning everything in its wake.
The blaze of inferno engulfed the glorious grandeur of Asgard and incinerated the majestic fairy palace. From gods, they became powerless lambs, screaming in the terrifying flames until eventually sinking into death.
Underneath the cosmic barrier, Thor saw firsthand how the twilight of the gods came to be.
Boundless conquest and destruction will ultimately ruin this cosmos. More power will drain the root of this universe. And that fire—
That's the universe trying to heal itself.